• Eighty-two percent of the responding firms expect their 2014 sales to improve from last year's. Another 17.6 percent expect sales will be about the same as 2013. None of those responding expect 2014 sales to be worse than last year's.

• Fifty percent of companies said they plan to increase hiring in the next 12 months, down from 63 percent in 2013 and 57 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, 44 percent will keep head count the same. Just 6 percent plan cuts.

• Nearly 46 percent plan to increase capital expenditures, down from 58 percent a year ago and 51 percent in 2012. Another 46 percent will hold capital spending at current levels in 2014. Just 8 percent of responding companies planned to cut spending in the coming year.

The plans for hiring and capital expenditures are consistent with growth in what's been a long, slow recovery from the Great Recession.

GLEN STUBBE &#x2022; gstubbe@startribune.com

Arctic Cat is among the Minnesota companies expecting to increase capital spending in the coming year.

'Hopeful thinking'

"Businesspeople tend to want to be optimistic,'' said Chris Puto, dean of the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas. "These results, in terms of optimism, look the same as last year.''

At some point in this gradual and long recovery, contrarians will start to return, Puto said. But for now there is "hopeful thinking.''

The Star Tribune conducted the mail survey in March and April. Of 110 publicly held, Minnesota-based companies that got surveys, 39 responded.

The plans for hiring came from a diverse group of companies, ranging from Ecolab to Polaris, hardware maker Fastenal, SPC Commerce and Vascular Solutions.

Retail and services companies planning to hire include Granite City Food & Brewery and Select Comfort, maker of the Sleep Number bed.

Companies planning to increase capital spending in the coming year include Toro, Allete, G&K Services and ­Arctic Cat.

David Vang, professor of finance at the University of St. Thomas, noted that 31 percent of responding companies said they have more access to capital — up from just 18 percent a year ago.

"That's some good news,'' Vang said. "A lot of firms have recapitalized their ­balance sheets. Minnesota-based companies were among the first to cut back [during the Great Recession].''

Yet most companies (48.5 percent) said they plan to focus on internal growth rather than acquisitions (9 percent) to expand their businesses — even though they could borrow to finance a deal.

"They are trying to work their own horses harder rather than buying new horses,'' Vang said.

"Internal growth is better for [Minnesota's] economy than acquisitions,'' Puto said, because acquisitions could be made elsewhere while internal growth would be more likely to occur in Minnesota.